“Thank Your Lucky Stars” proves to be an apt title, perfectly describing every Beach House fan’s reaction upon learning that the band was releasing their sixth full-length LP less than two months after the release of fifth album, “Depression Cherry.” After the three-and-a-half year drought that followed 2012’s “Bloom,” a new Beach House album had been long overdue, but the release of two excellent albums was well worth the wait.
Though it was recorded at the same time as its predecessor, “Thank Your Lucky Stars” is a distinctly different album. Leaving behind the clean, almost cheery tones of the ironically titled “Depression Cherry,” the album is both a callback to some of the band’s earliest releases and something entirely new. While it maintains the high quality of 2010’s “Teen Dream” and the releases that have followed, “Thank Your Lucky Stars” is also a return to a much more lo-fi sound that is often complemented by distorted guitar. Some tracks, like “She’s so Lovely” and “Common Girl,” sound similar to their second album, “Devotion” — even the album cover, a black and white photograph, presents a departure from the simple patterned covers of the previous three albums and a return to the style of “Devotion” and their self-titled debut.
Beach House has not exactly gone metal, but the album does take a step towards a sound reminiscent of My Bloody Valentine, which “Depression Cherry” suggests with track “Sparks,” but then backs away from. This is perhaps best embodied by “Elegy to the Void,” which is not only the highlight of the album, but possibly one of the band’s best songs. After starting slowly with arpeggios — the universal feature of Beach House songs — the second half of the song is driven by a heavily distorted, atmospheric guitar riff. Here, as elsewhere on the album, the rougher sound creates a moodier tone. Where “Depression Cherry” is very even with subtle high points, “Thank Your Lucky Stars” is more emotionally charged with much more pronounced peaks.
Other songs of note are “Majorette” which leads off the albums with a familiar, bright guitar riff that is quickly joined by softly distorted power chords, “All Your Yeahs,” which couples simple, rhythmic guitar with a synthesizer’s slow crescendo, and “The Traveller,” which is driven by an active drum beat and a catchy keyboard hook. There is a common sense of movement as songs tend to build off of simple starts to satisfying conclusions.
Beach House’s sound remains familiar even as it treads new ground. The music released over the past two months, which now accounts for a third of the band’s discography, helps to establish Beach House as a true indie powerhouse. Having now released four consecutive albums without so much as a single bad song, it is clear that Beach House is more than capable of producing consistent, great music for a long time to come.
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